Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 34, no. 873: December 6, 1884

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Deciefnfcer (J. 1884 The Record and Guide. 1210 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Published every Saturday, 191 Broadway, N. Y. TERMS: OXE YE\a, iu advance, SIX DOLL.IRS* ConuQunlcatioos should be addressed to €. W. SWEET, 19! Broaiiway. J. T. LINDSEV, Busiueaa Manager, DECEMBER G, 1SS4. Tlie election of thirteen directors of the Real Estate Exchauge and Auction Room (Limited) will talje place next Monday. Niae of the Board of Directors of last year ara candidates for re-election. It will undoubtedly be bsat to coutinuo the sarae ofiicers in power for oae year more eo ihit the plana of the originators of the Exchange can be fully carried out. The annual report, we under¬ stand, will show that the E."ccliaugo ia on an excellent financial footing, and that iti prospects aro all that could be desired. The rental outside of the hall and offices of the Exchange itself will amount to 6 per cent, gross on the capital stock, while the sources of revenue to be developed sliould in time pay (;ood dividends to the shareholderg. It is said that the membership of the Real Estate Exchange will compare very favorably in wealth with that of the Stock Exchange. An interview wilh Mr. George H, Scott, secretary of the Exchange, published elsewhere, will be found very interesting to members who wish to know the exact status of that institution. - ■- ■—•—-------------------■ It is to be hoped that the Laud Transfer Reform Commission are in readiness to report as soon as the legislative session commen¬ ces. They have had nine months to deliberate on this matter, the points of which are well understocd by all intelligent members of the legal profession. There should be no excuse for any delay. It is unfortunate perhapa that the entire commission are lawyers. A reform of our land laws is so vital a matter that a real estate owner and a dealer should have been representiid on the commis¬ sion. Tliere is a suspicion that the legal profession cdnnot be greatly interested in a reform, which, if it fulfills its purpose, will cut down the exorbitant charges that are uow necessary in trans¬ ferring titles to real estate. corporation! and to Congress. The business of the roads, now regarded as the private property of the directors for use on the stock exchauges, should bs made public in reports sworn to by lhe officers, and false swearins should be punishable by fine and imprisonment. Directors in insurance and olher companies who make fraudulent statements are sent to prison and lined ; but rail¬ way directors have frequently told the most deliberate false¬ hoods to their stockholders and the public, and, there is no law to punish them. In time this proposed commission might liavo power to giant permits to build new roads, but the Reagan bill now before the House is au abomination iu its present shape. Cjrporation Counsel Lacombe's iuterpretationof the newconsti- tutioual amendment shows that marked defect of the legally trained mind which is apt to place a greater value on a fiction than ona fact. Upon an examination of the figures any average business man would say that New York city owes something over $90,000,000 ; but the city's legal adviser, while not disputing the fact, is of opinion thnt the apparent debt of $135,000,000 prohibits the city from incurring further indebtedness, although under the constitutional amend¬ ment wo would not reach our litnit until we actually owed about $123,000,000. It is this pottering with words and definitions, and giving them the preference to facts, wbich has discredited our courts in dealing with business disputes. The leading exchanges of the world are unanimous in refusing to recognize courts-of law. Tliey have establiabed their own arbitration committees to settle the question of I'acts involved in all business disagreements. Practically the Corporation Counsel's decision will be a good thing for the city iu temporarily, at least putting a stop to the creation of new indebtedness. Tax payers will not be sorry for this, that is if provision can be made for giving us the new parks in tho annexed district. ---------------------------------------------------•—■—■— An in'.er-State railroad bill is very much needed, but some of the provisions of the Reagan bill now under debate in the House are preposterous. They aim to put a stop to consolidations, pools and understandings between competing lines. The theory underlying this proposed enactment is that the railroad companies are plun¬ dering the public, The very reverse is the fact. It is the public whicli is now profiting at the expense of our railway system. AVe are suffering from rate wars and the carriage of freight and pas¬ sengers for less than cost. The business of the government should be hereafter to protect railway property from undue depreciation. No more new lines should be permitted unless authorized by the central government, and every consolidation or connection of rival roads should be encouraged, as ii saves expense and is an accom¬ modation to the public. There should be no more buildiog of Nickel Plate and West Shore roads. The money invested in the stock of theie companies miglufcbetter have been thrown into the sea, Unnecessary railways are a national calamity, and permanent competition between them is, and always has baen, an illusion. Secrelaty MoCuHoch's recommendation to withdraw the one and two-dollar greenbacks so in lo afford a place for tlio circulation of silver dollars and small gold coin has cften been advocated in these columns, Ours is tho greatest gold and silver producing nation in tlie world, and we should have made use of the precious metals in all retail transactions, but, iustead, we have deliberately set them aside and substituted paper in their place. When the national banking law was passed it provided that the one and two-dollar bills should be withdrawn when specie payments were resumed so as to leave a place for g.ild and silver coins to circulate. They accordingly were retired from circulation on the 1st of January, 1879. But Secretary Sherman, in order to discredit tho silver dollar, issued one and two dollar greenbacks in place of the cancelled bank notes. It was a shrewd move for the object he had in view, and has furnished a standing newspaper argument against the silver dollar; indeed it makes its last appearance in President Arthur's message. The other commercial nations. Great Britain, France and Germany, prohibit the issue of small notes, and hence gold and silver is almost the only retail currency" known abroad. Having oue more uae there than in this country gold as well as silver naturally gravitates towards Europe except when the balance of trade is against the nations of that con- •■inent. We ought to stop the issue, not only of the ones and twop, but of the fives and tens, both of the national banks and the government notes. We would then not only utilize the gold now p'led up in tho bank vaults and hoarded among the people, but attract some of the yellow metal from Europe, and slimlilate the production of our own ininep. We then would coin eagles and halC- eagles. Our present gold coinaje is almost exclusively in double eagles, which are convenient for banks and for gold exporters, but practically useless as a currency. —_------«---------- Secretary McCulloch's report, by the way, is a very rotable ono. It is a plea for fuller and freer trade with other nations, and for subsidies by government in aid of our foreign commerce. Were the Secretary'^ policy carried out it would greatly advantage the trade of this city, for it would give us lines of steamships sailing under the American flag to all the principal ports in the world. The merchant princes of New York would in time vie in wealth with the present race of railway kings. But the purblind press pf thia city will antagonize all the recommendations of the Secretary of the Treasury to add to the commerce of this port. Both the President and his Secretary of the Treasury unite in recommending that the tariff be modified so as to abolish duties ou raw material and that treaties be entered into with other nations, especially with South American States, to give a market abroad for our manufactures. The home market is confessedly insufficient to consume all the goods we produce. These views are uot novel¬ ties to the readers of The Record and Guide. The meeting in favor of the passage of a bankruptcy act by Congress wrs falsely described in the papers as being an important one. As a matter of fact the merchants and business mon of New York were conspicupus by their absence. All bankruptcy laws passed so far by our government have been swtudle.s upon tlie commercial community. The assets of the bankrupt estates have invariably been eaten up by tlie court ofEcials and the lawyers. Tne legal sharks who profit by these bankruptcy acts aro very smart. They detail conBdence men to dog the editors of the city press so as to induce them to write articles favoring a bankrupt law. The editor-', managers and loader writers of the various jour¬ nals are fairly run down by these plausible scamps, who claim to represent the mercantile community; but the latter, while tliey would be very glad if a national bankruptcy law was enacted which would be efficient, know from bitter experience that no oue so far passed has been of the slightest value to them. The laws enacted have thus far proved such monstrous swindles that they have been quickly repealed. No Congress of lawyers can bs trusted in fram¬ ing the bankruptcy act for the mercantile community. But we ought to have a national railway commission with power to collect statistics, settle differences and make suggestions to the William M. Evarts is the best candidate mentioned as United States Senator from this State. This is the greatest Ftate in the Union and it ought to have its very foremost citizen as its repre¬ sentative in QUI" upper chamber, Chauncey M, Depew would make